British huntswomen in colonial India
Imperialism and gender hierarchies, 1890–1921
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13060023 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Vijaya Ramadas Mandala (0000-0001-5940-2862, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 71-99 |
| Publication date | 2020-05-05 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Review of Environmental History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2205-3204 • E-ISSN: 2205-3212 |
| Publisher | ANU Press (PUBLISHER • AU) |
| DOI | 10.22459/ireh.06.01.2020.04 |
| OpenAlex | W3022330330 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 1 |
This article examines the history of British huntswomen in colonial India, c. 1890-1921. It aims to map the dissemination of the codes of huntswomanship, which came to signify the cultural and political ecology of India, in relation to historical geography and the animal kingdom. This study argues that British women could not have gained such an ideological significance without the active collaboration of indigenous people. In addition, this article contends that British huntswomen's environmentalism and the hunted fauna differed widely from those of male imperial hunters-an important historical development in relation to shikar in India that extant historiography has overlooked. Taking into account the memoirs of Mrs Alan Gardner, Isabel Savory and Mrs W. W. Baillie, this study offers a different reading of the history of huntswomanship in colonial India beyond the maledominated genre of the imperial hunt. While tiger huntresses existed in the English East India Company period, in the later Raj, more British women successfully transformed big game hunting mores by positioning their practices in the realm of sport. These women conceptualised gender hierarchies and intelligently articulated their views on the hunt, as well as hunting fauna, through a colonial feminist perspective. Finally, the analysis sheds light on the political dimensions of huntswomanship and the implication of gender politics in the context of environment and empire
Archaeology · Colonialism · Cultural imperialism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · History · Law
| Citations per year | 0.6 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Highly cited | No |